In the same week as Ofsted chief Wilshaw went public with dire warnings about small independent Islamic faith schools spreading homophobic and anti-Semitic views, and providing low quality education in sub-standard, unhealthy buildings, parents at a predominantly white state school in Blackpool made national news by resisting the take-over of their school by a government-supported Islamic Faith Academy Trust.
Unpicking this bald statement of fact clarifies the issues somewhat. But the deeper you look, the weirder it gets.
Blackpool secondary schools are definitely in trouble. They not only have the Northern Underperformance Syndrome, but they also seem to be able to turn good outcomes from their primary schools into complete reverse! Only half the secondary schools are good or better, which means half ‘Require Improvement’ or are in special measures, with Ofsted saying that 2,500 students in the town are receiving an inadequate education.
Blackpool has its own particular social problems, including a collapsing economy, a very high seaside itinerant population and a serious drugs problem. It also has a large white working class population, unalloyed with any significant ethnic communities of the sort that are helping raise academic achievement in other traditional working class areas across the UK.